Class of '66 Old Fart

In double OT, Bloomington North advanced to the sectional finals with a 60-55 win over Columbus North. Roberts with 16p 15r 3a 2s 2b 2t. He committed 2 fouls in the last minute of OT #1 but CN could only manage 2-4 FT. He's not a good ball handler and really needs work in that area. He's quick and a very good leaper. He likely saved the game for BN in regulation when a CN player had a path to the basket with the scored tied but Roberts made a thunderous block with 1.5 sec. left.

Watched a number of his games last year and that's the way Jack Keefer sets up his offense.

Grace Berger moved into 15th on Indiana's all-time scoring list today. And she pulled even at No. 4 in program history in assists.

Women go 2-0 on the day with a 7-1 win over Western Illinois. Macy Montgomery goes the distance scattering 8 hits.

As a team, Lawrence North only has 34 points. That's an incredible half for Gunn.

In game #2, we lead 5-0 over Western Illinois after 4 innings. Macy Montgomery on the mound.

Hoosiers win game #1 on the weekend 9-4 over Valpo. Heather Johnson started but only lasted 2 innings giving up 3 runs in facing 11 batters. Brianna Copeland took the mound and finished the game giving up 1run on 3 hits and struck out 6. We had 12 hits which included a Brittany Ford 2-run HR. Grayson Radcliffe and Ford each had 3 RBI and Cora Bassett scored 4 times. Game against Western Illinois will get underway shortly.

Jim Benson an Illinois sportswriter - Illinois State expected to announce in a couple minutes that Ohio State assistant coach Ryan Pedon will become the Redbirds' new head coach.

Aren't these women fun to watch when they're hitting on all cylinders? Pretty much a complete ball game as they take down the Twerps 62-51. Mack is back with 17pts. and 5 reb. in 30 min. Berger a double-double with 16 pts and 11 reb. and she added 4 assists. C-H 9p 8r 3a 4s Gulbe 7p 11r 3a although she did have 6 TOs. Chloe 7p Ali 6p 2r 4a Defensively we held MD to 30% FG and a goose egg on 3s as they went 0-12. Next up it's O$U tomorrow

Hoosiers playing very well and lead 34-25 at the half. Great balanced scoring led by Mack with 10 pts and she's grabbed 4 reb. Berger and C-H both with 6 pts. Gulbe, Ali and Chloe each with 4. 48% FG C-H with 5 reb; Grace & Mack each with 4. C-H also grabbed 4 steals and dished out 2 assists. As a team we have 10 assists on 15 made FG. We've held Maryland to 31% FG.

18-13 Hoosiers lead after 1Q.

On the pre-game show Browne is in uniform and expected to play today.

Details for this weekend. The Indiana softball team will open their home slate with four games this weekend as they host the Hoosier Classic and welcome Valparaiso and Western Illinois. Dates: Friday, March 4-Saturday March 5 Location: Bloomington, Ind. Stadium: Andy Mohr Field Participating Teams: Indiana, Valpo, Western Illinois Tournament Schedule Friday, March 4th 11AM – Western Illinois vs Valpo 2PM – IU vs Valpo 4:30PM – IU vs Western Illinois Saturday, March 5th 9AM – Valpo vs Western Illinois 12PM – IU vs Western Illinois 2:30PM – IU vs Valpo Twitter Updates: @IndianaSB Live Stats Video Series History Valpo: The Hoosiers lead the all-time series 9-0. The last time they played was 2014 when IU won 8-0 in five innings. Western Illinois: Hoosiers lead the all-time series 18-8. The last time the teams played was the 2017 season in which IU won 1-0 in eight innings. The Hoosiers have won two straight in the series. The last WIU win was in 2007. The 2021 Season In the 2021 season the Hoosiers won or split nine of their 12 Big Ten series. They finished fifth in the Big Ten standings and were one game out of fourth. Gabbi Jenkins set the career record for stolen bases with 96 and Emily Goodin finished with 583 career strikeouts, rankings fourth best in program history. Jenkins and Grace Lorsung earned All-Big Ten First Team honors and Goodin and Grayson Radcliffe earned Second Team honors. Four Hoosiers (Jenkins, Goodin, Radcliffe and Bella Norton) earned NFCA All-Region honors. In the classroom the team had a 3.69 GPA, 12 Academic All-Big Ten selections and Jenkins and Radcliffe earned CoSIDA First Team All-District honors. What's Ahead Indiana softball will play a challenging non-conference schedule, highlighted by playing the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners and runner-up Florida State Seminoles. The Hoosiers will make a return trip to the Sunshine State to play in an event hosted by Florida State Feb. 25-27. The Hoosiers will play at home at Andy Mohr Field for the first time in 2022 when they host Valparaiso and Western Illinois March 4-5. The following weekend the Hoosiers travel to Louisville and play the host Cardinals, Ohio and Eastern Kentucky. The final non-conference trip will see the Hoosiers travel to Oklahoma City, Okla., for the Hall of Fame Classic. In addition to playing No. 1 Oklahoma, the Hoosiers will face Houston, Sam Houston State, Iowa and San Diego. Roster Breakdown The Hoosiers graduated seven seniors from Team 48 and have added seven newcomers to the roster for this season. The 2022 roster features 20 student-athletes with 10 upperclassmen. Grayson Radcliffe returns for her final season. The 2021 All-Big Ten Second Team performer hit .315 with 39 hits, 25 RBI and 16 stolen bases last season. The Hoosiers also return First Team All-Big Ten and All Freshmen Team standout Grace Lorsung. Lorsung tallied 29 hits and 20 RBI in 2021. Fresh Faces in Bloomington The Hoosiers signed four freshmen and added three transfers. Making their collegiate debuts will be Heather Johnson, Kinsey Mitchell, Brianna Copeland, Taylor Minnick and transfer Sarah Stone. Indiana added All-Big Ten student-athlete Cora Bassett from Purdue and Lindsey Warick from Missouri. Jenkins Transitions into Coaching Role The Hoosiers all-time leader in career stolen bases Gabbi Jenkins is out of eligibility, but will still be impacting the Hoosiers this season. Jenkins has stepped into a role as volunteer assistant coach and will continue to mentor the Hoosier student-athletes. In her final playing season, Jenkins earned All-Big Ten First Team honors as she hit .331 with 24 stolen bases and set an Indiana record for single season doubles with 18. Ford Comes Up Big in Opening Weekend Senior Brittany Ford hit .625 over four games for the Hoosiers in their opening weekend of play. In eight at bats she tallied two home runs, two runs, five hits, three extra-base hits, seven RBI, 12 total bases and a 1.500 slugging percentage. In the Hoosiers first game of the season, against Louisville she came off the bench to pinch hit and hit a home run in her only at bat. In game two she got the start and hit a grand slam to help the Hoosiers to an 11-1 win over Florida Atlantic. It is the second straight season she has hit a grand slam. Ford had at least one hit in all four of the Indiana games this past weekend. Ford collected RBI in three of the four games and had multiple RBI in two of the games. Johnson Shines in Florida Freshman Heather Johnson made her first career start on Feb. 26 against No. 3 Florida State. Johnson retired 15 of the 20 batters she faced and had 4 strikeouts. She helped the Hoosiers to a 1-0 lead through five innings. The next day Johnson earned her first victory with a complete game shutout of Hofstra.

Tuesday night Cathedral defeated North Central 76-68 in its first round sectional game. NC played without Joey Brown who's missed a number of recent games due to injury. Booker played 28 min. scoring 12p on 5-8 FG; 7 reb; 0 asst; 0 stl; 3 blk; 1 TO. Cathedral plays Tech tonight in a semifinal game.

Televised on the basic BTN. We beat the Terps (21-7) (13-4) 70-63 in OT back on Jan. 2, in Bloomington and they beat us in College Park 67-64 on Feb. 25. Key difference was a healthy Mackenzie playing 41 min. vs. a less than 100% Mack playing 31 min. No idea on Browne's status for today's game but since she wasn't even in uniform yesterday would seem doubtful she'll be available today so we'll need another solid outing from Chloe and hopefully some other bench contributions. GO HOOSIERS. Live Stats Radio

Extract from another story - Adou Thiero endured the pain of a fractured thumb to avoid the hurt of another silver medal. The Quaker Valley senior made eight free throws in the final 72 seconds and delivered a key late-game block, finishing touches on his dominant double-double as the top-seeded Quakers defeated No. 2 Montour, 61-52, Thursday night in the WPIAL Class 4A final at Petersen Events Center.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - For a half, one of the best scoring duos in WPIAL history was anything but. Quaker Valley’s Adou Thiero and Markus Frank were a combined 3 for 15 from the field in the first two quarters, their team struggled and trailed by a point at halftime of Thursday’s WPIAL Class 4A championship game. Then the second half came and Thiero and Frank were back to their old selves. The two 6-foot-5 seniors took over the game in the last two quarters and led top-seeded Quaker Valley to a 61-52 victory against second-seeded Montour at Petersen Events Center. The win enabled Quaker Valley (23-0) to become only the 24th team since 1940 to win a WPIAL title with an undefeated record. Quaker Valley scored 42 points in the second half and Thiero and Frank had 40 of them. Thiero scored 22 of his game-high 31 points in the final two quarters, to go along with 17 rebounds and seven blocked shots. This from a player who sustained a broken growth plate in his right thumb a little more than a week ago. For the second game in a row, Thiero wore a brace on the thumb of his shooting hand. But Thiero did just about everything in the second half, torturing Montour (20-5) with his drives, rebounding, passing and blocked shots. Frank rode right alongside Thiero, going 6 for 6 from the field in the third quarter. He finished with 23 points, 18 in the second half. During the regular season, Frank and Thiero were the first players in the WPIAL since 1980 to both average 24 points or more. “We just give each other that look and we know what we’re supposed to do,” said Thiero, who averages 24 points a game. “That’s what we did tonight.” Quaker Valley outscored Montour, 21-13, in the third quarter and Thiero and Frank (28 ppg) scored all of the Quakers’ points. They sped up the pace after the Quakers were held to 19 points in the first half. This from a team that came in averaging 73 points. “I think it was just us coming here and being a little nervous in this big place,” Thiero said. Quaker Valley coach Mike Mastroianni thought it was more Montour’s defense that had to do with Quaker Valley’s first-half struggles. “For as bad as we played in the first half, we felt we were in pretty good shape,” said Mastroianni, whose team defeated Montour for the third time this season. “Montour knows us very well. They’re the best defensive team we’ve played all year. They’re so good defensively. It’s a scrum playing them. Look at the scores. Our two lowest scores were against them. We knew it was going to be a battle.” A number of times in the second half, Thiero grabbed defensive rebounds and made outlet passes to Frank streaking down the court for a layup. Quaker Valley took a 40-33 lead into the fourth quarter, but Montour came back behind the play of senior guard-forward Vason Stephenson, whose three-point play with 3:47 remaining tied the game, 48-48. Stevenson was impressive, making 11 of 16 shots and finishing with 23 points and eight rebounds. The last tie of the game was 50-50, but Thiero made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute and also blocked a shot to help Quaker Valley pull away and win only the second title in school history. Much of the first half was played at a snail’s pace and the shooting was certainly lackluster. Quaker Valley shot only 29% (5 of 17) in the first half while Montour was just a tad better at 31% (8 of 26). Quaker Valley scored only six points in the first quarter and trailed by 10-6. After taking a 14-8 lead in the second quarter, Montour went scoreless for more than four minutes and fell behind, 17-14. But Montour came back and took a 20-19 lead to the locker room at halftime. But the second half was a different story. “The reason we are where we are is because the locker room is so calm,” Mastroianni said. “At halftime, Adou was talking, Jack Gardinier was talking. Adou’s voice is heard pretty well. He just said, ‘We gotta go.’ When your team is player-driven like that, you know it’s a special year.”

Duke offered today.

With Gulbe's time limited by fouls and already a thin bench we needed Chloe to step up. She played 28 min. scoring just 4 points but she grabbed 5 rebounds, 3 assists; 1 steal and only committed 1 TO.

I would turn in my btb secret de-coder ring.

Not a problem at all. Happy to see people following the women.

@LamarCheeks game thread had already been started but you're forgiven and we'll run with yours. No idea why but Kiandra Browne is with the team but not in uniform today so Chloe should get lots of minutes today. We definitely have to stay out of foul trouble today.

This was announced yesterday afternoon -- Due to weather Indiana softball will be adjusting the schedule for the Hoosier Classic games this weekend against Valparaiso and Western Illinois. The updated schedule is below. Friday, March 4th 11AM – Western Illinois vs Valpo 2PM – IU vs Valpo 4:30PM – IU vs Western Illinois Saturday, March 5th 9AM – Valpo vs Western Illinois 12PM – IU vs Western Illinois 2:30PM – IU vs Valpo

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This is becoming an all too common occurence. From the Akron Beacon Journal 'It’s disrespectful to the game of basketball': Fight breaks out at Buchtel-East game The North Ridgeville Division II boys basketball district semifinal between second-seeded Buchtel and 12th-seeded East was suspended Wednesday when a fight between the two squads erupted. Fans poured onto the floor and it took a while before police restored order. The Griffins were ahead 52-35 with 2.5 seconds left in the third quarter and both teams were escorted to their respective locker rooms after referees halted the action. “The OHSAA and the Northeast District Board will review the video and the officials reports," said Jeff Cassella, who is the interim secretary and spokesman of the Northeast District Athletic Board. "Once we receive all that information, we'll gather in the morning and make a determination as to what we're going to do.” How did the fight start? As the third quarter was coming to a close, East was set to inbound the ball. When both teams set up to begin play words were exchanged and punches were thrown. It started slow at first, but the on-court brawl escalated, and the court filled with players, fans and police officers. It took more than a few minutes until the incident de-escalated, with players having to be held back on multiple occasions. The referees met at the scorer’s table and suspended the game. How order was restored after the fight As coaches talked to their respective teams in the locker rooms, police officers stationed themselves outside the doors to make sure order was maintained. The locker rooms share the same hallway. When East personnel left their locker room, they exited through the north exit of the North Ridgeville Academic Center. Buchtel personnel left the building through the south exit. Extra police officers were called in and stood outside the building to provide additional security. What school officials said about the fight Akron Public Schools Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack released a statement Thursday morning condemning the incident. "This is without question an unfortunate incident that is not representative of the expectations and school culture that exists throughout the Akron Public Schools," Fowler Mack said. "I want to make it clear that this type of conduct is not tolerated. "We greatly appreciate the response of our coaches and players, as well as security officers and our administrators, for de-escalating the situation." Suspensions are still possible after the fight Akron Assistant Athletic Director Ron Linger said there could be suspensions after video review. "But that’s left up to other people, not East or Buchtel," he said. "That will be up to the officials." Those officials will look at the video, which hasn’t been released to the public, and a determination will be made at that time. “There hasn’t been a final decision yet,” North Ridgeville tournament director Shayna Hersh said. “[Cassella] wanted to talk to the OHSAA. As of right now, I’ve only talked to the athletic board as this is a district game, but the official decision will have to come from the OHSAA. I did share film, but we are waiting. “The officials will file a report. I will file a report with the current score and attach the film for the OHSAA and they’ll decide. It’s up to them, whether both teams are ejected or only one is. “This isn’t ideal for me. I’ve been doing tournament games for about five years here at Ridgeville. This isn’t the outcome you want, but with tournament games, emotions get high and kids make mistakes.” What coaches are saying after the game The commotion tainted what looked like another win by the Griffins, who beat the Dragons twice in the regular season and once in the City Series championship. Had the game played out as it was going, Buchtel would have had an extra day off to prepare for either 11th-seeded Shaw or third-seeded Gilmour Academy, who played Thursday evening in the other semifinal. The district final is currently scheduled for 4 p.m., Saturday. “It’s very unfortunate for both teams,” Griffins coach Rayshon Dent said. “We’re both out here trying to enjoy what the state has offered us as far as the tournament is concerned. I think it was a clean game until whatever happened. It’s just disappointing on both ends. “I spoke with my kids and they’re very disappointed. I’m speechless. They hate that it happened. Now, they realize how valuable it is.” East coach Chad Hazard echoed that statement after talking to his players in the locker room following the incident. “It’s a shame that we’re in an era where that can possibly happen,” he said. “It really is. We have to be better than that. … It boils over. It’s unfortunate. Benches were clearing before I knew what was going on. “It would have been tough to see that no matter what time of season. It’s just sad. It’s disrespectful to the game of basketball. You’re playing in a tournament where it’s win or go home and that’s how you end it. It’s a shame. It really is.”